Queen Lucia

a pinnacle, nor wielded so secure a supremacy. None had access to the Guru but through her: all his classes were held in the smoking-parlour and he meditated only in Hamlet or in

in the middle of the lawn and held their breath. Then Hermy would say One, Two, Three, and they shouted “Om” at the tops of their discordant voices. Now that the Guru was practically interned in The Hurst, they had actually never set eyes on him, for

s on him, she gave instruction to a less advanced class herself. For this purpose she habited herself in a peculiarly becoming dress of white linen, which reached to her feet and had full flowing sleeves like a surplice. It was girdled with a silver cord with long tassels, and had mother-of-pearl buttons and a hood at the back lined with white satin which came over her head. Below its hem as she sat and taught in a really rather advanced posture showed the toes

ch she had felt that life was not worth living, and Georgie all this month had at her request been exercising a semi-independent supervision over its decoration and furnishing. She had ordered the general scheme herself and had sent down from London the greater part of the furniture, but Georgie was commissioned to report on any likely pieces of old stuff that he could find, and if expedition was necessary to act on his own responsibility and buy them. But above all secrecy was still necessary till the house was so complete that her Georgie might be told, and by the end of the month Riseholme generally was in a state of prostration following on the violent and feverish curiosity as to who had taken the house. Georgie had gone so far as to confess that he knew, but the most pathetic appeals as to the owner’s identity had fallen on obdurate, if not deaf, ears. Not the smallest hint would he give on the subject, and though those incessant visits to the hou

sense) to the Hightumest gathering ever known could not lay aside her distinction and preeminence. Never had Lucia “scored” so amazingly as over Olga’s late appearance, which had the effect of bringing back all her departed guests with the compulsion of a magnet over iron-filings, and sending up the whole party like a rocket into the zenith of social success. All Riseholme knew that Olga had come (after playing croquet with Georgie the entire afternoon) and had given them free gratis and for nothing, such a treat as only the wealthiest could obtain with the

ed a little from the invariable emotion go to her and say, “Olga mia, just a little bit out of the Valkyrie? It would be so pleasant.” Somehow Georgie, with all his imagination, could not picture such a scene. And would Olga take the part of second citizenness or something of the sort when Lucia played Portia? Would Olga join the elementary class of Yoga, and be instructed by Lucia in her Teacher’s Robe? Would she sing treble in the Christmas Carols, while Lucia beat time, and said in s

ull of opposing forces at all. The great new star sailing into the heavens had just picked him up by force of its superior power of attraction, even as by its momentary conjunction with Lucia at the garden-party it had raised her to a magnitude she had never possessed before. That magnitude was still Lucia’s, and no doubt would be until the great star appeared again. Then without effort its shining must surely eclipse every other illumination, just a

it was not uncommon for Hermy and Ursy to make this sort of entrance, and at the moment Georgie had not the slightest idea of how much further-reaching was t

imagination went no further than to suppose that one of them had laid a stymie for the other at their golf, or d

ll never guess

gh caste and extraordina

rom Benares,”

ou think he is?” said Ursy.

ognised him

us, too, and di

rst and shut

calm suddenly qui

,” he said. “All Riseholme will hear you. Tell me wit

y. “It was one of the cooks from the C

,” said Ursy. “He makes th

he’s a little t

as much a Br

said he came

he curry himself, so he isn’

wiping her eyes. “If

and all the rest of them sitting round a cook,” said Ursy, “and drinking in his w

were right, to know that this was a tipsy contriver of curry. There was nothing in the simple manual office of curry-making that could possibly tarnish sanctity, but the amazing tissue of falsehoods with which the Guru had modestly masked his innocent calling was not so m

fter dinner to every member of the classes with the exception of Lucia, who shou

malice. “We thought it would serve her out for never askin

ver wanted to go

go. She wasn’t nice. Oh, I don’t think we can give up telling everyb

have him back at his curry-oven again

ut of the house, inform them that it was a quarter of an hou

rgie diplomatically. “And I’ll just go down to the c

. “But if you’re going to brib

see,” s

softened by the first to administer that also. They would then hardly be in a condition to be taken seriously if they still insisted on making a house-to-house visit in Riseholme, and tearing the veil from off the features of the Guru. Georgie was far too upright of purpose to dream of making his sisters drunk, but he was willing to make great sacrifices in order to render them kind. What the inner circle would do about this cook he had no idea; he must talk to Lucia about it, before the advanced class tomorrow morning. But anything was better than letting Hermy and Ursy loose in Riseholme with their rude laughs and discreditable exposures. This evening safely over, he could discuss with Lucia what was to be done, for Hermy and Ursy would have vanished at cock-crow as they were going in for some golf-com

early next morning, and wanted to be driven into Brinton, instead of taking a slower and earlier train at this station, readily gave up their project of informing the whole of Riseholme of their discovery, and went to bed as soon as they had rooked their brother of eleven shillings a

, for his sisters had still all their packing in front of them when they went to bed and the doze that preceded sleep was often br

ued. He thought of his absurd lark about burglars on the night of their arrival, and smiled at the notion. His toupet was in a drawer close to his bed, but he had no substantial impulse to put it on, and make sure that the noise was not anything other than his sisters’ preparations for their early start. For himself, he would have had everything packed

going to have a day’s fishing in the happy stream that flowed into the Avon, and he wanted to be off by eleven. Peppino

dow seat of the dining-room, and thought how pleasant peace and quietness were. But just when it was time to start for The Hurst in order to talk over the disclosures of the night before with Lucia before the class, and perhaps to frame some secretive policy which would obviate further exposure, he remembered that he had left his cigarette-case (the pretty straw one with the turquoise

l Huth, gone the piece of Bow China, and gone the Faberge cigarette case. Only the Queen Anne toy-porringer was there, a

three times in swift succession, which was the signal to Foljambe that even if she was in her bath, she must

except once when a fish-bone had stuck in his throat, and once again when a note had announced to him that Piggy was going to

moment the telep

oljambe, and put the Queen Ann

e hurry

ou to come around

. Nothing must be moved,” and he hastily replaced the toy-porringe

jambe, but in anothe

ou would come at once,” she said. “T

said Georgie irritably. Then good-nature mi

id, “and see that nobody touches anything. I shall pr

and was received by Lucia, who had clearly been looking out of

e into Philip’s safe last night, and took a hundred pounds in bank-notes. He had put

certain pride

x is worth more than that, and there’s the piece of Bow c

e in the house. My Guru will be profoundly affected. An atmosphere where thieves have been will stifle him. He has often tol

ow, the humorous stone fruit from the plate beside the pot-pourri bowl. Even as she repeated, “I cannot lose hi

— thank God, most of our things are plate — eight silver forks

thieves permeated Daisy’s house, too, there was no great danger

poil that for us. If I sent for the police now I could not concentrate. I will not tell my Guru what has happened to

oved, to the smoking-parlour, where Peppino was already sitting on the floor, and breathing in a rather more agitated manner than was usual with the advanced class. There were fresh flowers on the table, and the scented morning breeze blew in from the garden. According to custom they all sat down and waite

ich was the nearest approach to an Elizabethan clock that Lucia

a little lat

no sneezed. Two minutes after

appened to your Guru, dear?” she asked.

er eyes, for she was “concentrating,”

sy, “but I have med

d Lucia. “H

othing but Lucia’s Persian cat, who had a qua

rupt him,” she said, “

adopted when she wore her Teacher’s Robes. Before many seconds

she said; “and yet t

ole, Lucia mia?” asked Mrs Qua

ucia disreg

was no reply. I said, ‘Master, we

s with the report of a co

a restaurant,” he said. “They recognised him, and they thought he recogn

ounded to

k in the door! I believe he’s gone and I bel

didn’t fool me. I knew when you took him away from me, what sort of a bargain you had made. Guru, indeed! He’s the same class as Mrs Eddy, and I saw through her fast enough. And now what are we to do? For my part, I

g grievance that had been accentuated by the loss of a Georgian tankard, and that was terrible enough to make Lucia adopt a conciliatory attitude. Bitterly she repented having stolen Daisy’s Guru at all, if the suspicions now thickening in the air proved to be true, but after all they were not proved yet. The Guru might

chisel from his tool chest and led the way upstairs, they all knew that the decisive moment had come. Perhaps he might be meditating (for indeed it was likely that he had a good deal to meditate about), but perhaps — Peppino called to him in h

empty as the room. Finally, Peppino unlocked the door of a large cupboard that stood in the corner, and with a clinking and crashing of glass

n or fifteen bottles. That accounts for the glazed look in his eyes whi

Lucia, too shattered to feel resentment

any little things he might want from my trades

ar,” sai

eyes sou

,” he said. “I remember telling

ed up his hamm

the police-station and put the whole matter into their hands, as far as I am concerned. Th

as he who committed all thes

ng this, for the others had all

the same,” s

aid Mrs Quantoc

the hands of the police? They will probably catch him, and it will all come out that we have been the dupes of a curry-cook. Think what we have all been doing for this last month, think of our classes, our exercises,

hout the other things,” said Georgie, still with a

ssima,“ said Peppino. But it was clear that Lu

she said. I’ll give you a

in my tankard?” said Daisy with b

s eyes, that seemed to indicate that his mind was working on parallel lines. Certainly Lucia had given them all something to meditate upon. He tried to imagine the whole story being shouted into Mrs Antrobus’s ear-trumpet on the village-green, and

ck’s enquiry a d

hen?” asked Peppino, sh

ted her ut

me, we silly women, we want ‘oo and Georgie to tel

disgust at her playfulness on Mrs Quantock

uddenly, and that he has had a call somewhere else. His work here was done; he had established our class

He knew the thing couldn’t last for ever, and when my si

roperty he could lay hand

ngered h

it be known that three burglaries were committed in one ni

tock, fizzing with indignation a

egarding the interruption, “and we must stop the news from spread

ete control of them al

a word till the police had been sent for. You must tell her, carissimo, t

knows,” sa

ut some more things out in your lovely treas

e meekly, for she had been think

he notice the loss of the ta

nce in t

ucia. “Just tell your mai

eliciously m

ea of mine and now Peppino and Georgie will put t

nd she corrected them if they went wrong. Then once agai

ow: he looks ten years younger than he did a month ago, and as for Daisy, I wish I could trip about as she does. And it wouldn’t do, would it, to drop everything just because Daisy’s Guru — I m

d benignly

lves,” she said, “and it will all drop quietly. But don’t let us drop it with

pa

as usual,” she sai